Major blow to Al-Qaeda: bin Laden's Top Advisor believed killed

http://foxnews.com/story/0,2933,38922,00.html

<b>WASHINGTON — Mohammed Atef, Usama bin Laden's chief adviser and heir apparent, is believed to have been killed by a U.S. airstrike in the last two days, U.S. officials said Friday.

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<i>Atef, a top Al Qaeda terrorist accused of helping plan the Sept. 11 attacks on the Pentagon and World Trade Center, was believed to have died in a U.S. bombing raid near Kabul.

"This is a devastating blow to the Al Qaeda organization," said one official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"This guy was bin Laden's military specialist since the early 1990s, widely thought to be bin Laden's successor in the event of his death."

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said he had seen authoritative reports that Atef was killed, though he added that he didn't know for a fact that bin Laden's lieutenant was dead.

"He was No. 2. We obviously have been seeking [him] out," Rumsfeld said. Another U.S. official said Atef's body had not been located.

Rumsfeld said bin Laden is still thought to be hiding in Afghanistan and is a prime target. "And needless to say, if we knew his whereabouts, we would have him," he said.

Atef, an Egyptian, has also been indicted for involvement in the U.S. embassy bombings in Africa in 1998. He and bin Laden's spiritual adviser, Ayman al-Zawahiri, are believed to be bin Laden's top two lieutenants.

Earlier this year, Atef's daughter married bin Laden's son, demonstrating the closeness of the Egyptian to the mastermind terrorist. TV footage of the wedding was broadcast on an Arab satellite station in January.

Pentagon officials have said some senior Taliban and Al Qaeda leaders have been killed in recent days, but they have officially offered no names. The State Department was offering a $5 million reward for information leading to Atef's capture and conviction.

Atef, who is also known as Sobhi al-Sitta and Abu Hafs el-Masry, is believed to be a former Egyptian police officer. His affiliation with bin Laden dates back to the early 1980s, when he helped bin Laden recruit fighters for the Afghan war with the Soviet Union.

He later helped establish Al Qaeda and took charge of its security. He was principally responsible for operational planning and terrorist training for the terror organization's members.

An Egyptian court sentenced Atef to life imprisonment in absentia in 1999 after convicting him of subversion and membership in Islamic Jihad.

In October 1999, the FBI charged Atef and other Al Qaeda members in a conspiracy to murder U.S. nationals. The indictment pointed to the Aug. 7, 1998, bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania as being part of the conspiracy.

Atef was the commander of the military wing of the International Front for Fighting Jews and Crusades, which was formed by the 1998 merger of bin Laden's Al Qaeda group with Islamic Jihad of Egypt, and two Pakistani militant groups and a Bangladeshi unit.

The military wing, known as the Islamic Army for the Liberation of Holy Sites, claimed responsibility for the 1998 embassy bombings.

The British government says Atef traveled to Somalia several times in 1992 and 1993 to organize violence against U.S. and U.N. troops then stationed in that African nation. On each occasion he reported back to bin Laden, who was based at the time in Khartoum, Sudan.

Last month, the London-based Islamic Observation Center quoted Atef as saying U.S. troops would suffer the same fate in Afghanistan as they did in Somalia, where bodies of slain U.S. soldiers were dragged through the streets in 1993.

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Something I should add, I was looking at the national news, and they said if this is true, and they strongly believe it is, it practically cripples any chances of terrorist retaliation in the United States. This guy was the brains of the operation as far as that is concerned. Atef is also personally responsible for bin Laden's safety. Now what were you saying again Osama?